The Lonely Wolf
by dreamofthescorpio
Summary: Set in Twilight Princess, Link faces Ganondorf for the last time. Zelda silently encourages him, but will that be enough to let his courage shine through? Lame summary, I know, but please read! Rated T for tantrums, blood, and all that other stuff that makes you fell all warm and fuzzy inside. Please leave a review so I can improve!


_The Lonely Wolf_  
A Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess Fan Fiction  
_By Dreamofthescorpio_

Link watched as Ganondorf rose to his feet from the rather violent fall he had just taken. Thunder rumbled and rain began to fall as he cackled darkly. Zelda uneasily watched as Link slid off of Epona, in which she was astride. He nodded at Zelda, as if to say 'We're going to be okay'. Lightning let out it's sharp cries as the Hero walked forward to face Ganondorf.

"An impressive looking blade..." Ganondorf started, "But nothing more. Would you hear my desire?" He yanked his glowing blade from the extravagant sheath, hearing the pleasant sound of the metal scraping against it. "To take this foul blade," he looked at it in disgust, and looked back a Link, "And use it to blot out the Light forever!"

Borders rose instantly around the two, separating Zelda from Link. Link turned and saw Zelda standing in front of him, and the borders see through walls taunted him. He punched the border, and discovered it was the equivalent to concrete. He looked into Zelda's eyes, in a determined, but worried gaze.

"Link! You've beat him when he possessed me, in your beast form, and with Epona. This will be no different! If anything, easier! Just please be careful!" Link looked uneasily with his sharp blue eyes at the waiting Dark Lord behind him, waiting with an evil smile.

Link didn't look into her eyes as he agreed. "I'll do my be-"

Ganondorf swung his sword at Links unprotected back, a large slice going through all his protective gear. He gasped in surprise and pain, and turned to the villainous man, "Let's just get your death over with, child. I'm growing impatient." he guffawed. Link growled, as if his wolf instinct was taking over. Link turned on his heel, trying to hit Ganondorf with the ancient and blessed blade of the Master Sword. He left a large gash on his opponents leg. As much of a success that one, our ever graceful hero lost his footing , Slipping across drenched grass and falling flat on his back, breathless. Link shakily rose to his feet, clutching the Legendary blade in his hand, and the metal Hylian shield in the other.

Ganondorf looked at the tiny, soaked 'Hero' that was destined to destroy him, "You are so weak. The past heroes have done more damage in one slice than this! Face it, you're just a weak child used as the pawn of the Gods." he laughed cruelly at Link.

Link felt as if the dark lord was right. He seemed to have let down Zelda, let down even Hyrule, to let Ganondorf's dark forces go this far. Link threw his wet hair out of his eyes, glowing with a beast-like ferocity, "You may be right, But I will at least TRY to vanquish whatever you have stained to this land!" he yelled, Raising his sword and preforming the Jump strike on the villain. Ganondorf was hung back by the force of the attack, but not for long.

Ganondorf let his blade whistle through the air and make contact with Link's right calf. Link exclaimed in pain, and fell to his knees. "Hmm. You are an angry boy..." he mused, " You'd make a fine addition to my list of servants." Link glared at him, a deadly rage glowering within his feral blue eyes as if the mighty beast within him wanted to break through.

Link rolled around Ganondorf in attempt to preform the Back slice, but stopped by a swift and hard kick in the stomach. The hero smacked against the barrier, right in front of Princess Zelda. She gasped, "L-Link! Please get up!" she cried, smacking the barrier with her gloved fists pitifully. Link stood on his weak legs, smiling at Zelda, as his lip bled, "I won't need it." he said, and jumped back into the battle with fierce determination.

He raised his sword to preform the Helm Splitter, when he was caught off guard and Ganondorf swung the blunt side of his sword into his stomach, flying back into the barrier and slid down it's slick surface, now drenched in the cold rain

Link's shaking hands let go of the sword, eyes closed tightly in utter pain. He panted, trying to regain the breath that escaped his straining lungs. He set his hand on the walls, trying to stand, but his feet could not find place on the slippery surface of the wet and bloodstained grass. Ganondorf pointed the sword at Link's cheek, making a thin cut that bled out heavily. The villain raised his sword and swiped it across Link's face. He screamed as the sword dug through his flesh and broke through the bone in his nose. Blood flowed from his nasal area, and the rest of the stinging cuts on his weary body.

Ganondorf grabbed the collar of Link's tunic, pulling him up against the barrier. "Just k-kill me already." Link growled, spitting in Ganondorf's face. He grimaced, wiping his face, and growled right back.

"In due time, Hero." Ganondorf raised his fist, making it meet it with Link's stomach with excruciating pain. He coughed and inhaled deeply.

"Please! Stop!" Zelda cried, watching her Hero brutally beaten. Ganondorf looked at the Princess. Her hair soaked and dress too, she looked so pathetic, but so beautiful. He pulled Link away from the wall, he was still dangling in his grasp, bleeding out and the rain making it dissapear into the grass.

Zelda looked down, beginning to cry. "You can have me." she whispered.

Link's eyes widened, "Princess! Are you mad?! RUN! We will fall if you give in! Use your power!"

Ganondorf clouted Link, making his eye bruise, "QUIET!" he howled, "Let the lady speak." He grinned.

Zelda nodded, "I am willing to give myself to you as long as you wish. Just do not hurt my Hero any more." she sniffed, her cerulean eyes glimmering with tears. Ganondorf smiled.

"GODDESS BE DAMNED! DON'T DO IT!" Link screamed, "I'd go through more than a god damn beating for this land and you will give up for one Hylian that failed to fulfill his destiny?!" his eyes burned with hatred, "YOU ARE WEAK! I WON'T LET ANYONE FORGET THAT!" his head hung low, "I can't help everyone, Zelda. And you can. You're throwing away what I have almost died for. What changed the life I wish I had kept. D-Damn you, Zelda." he wimpered.

Zelda stared in awe as the courageous Hero shed tears in the clutches of Ganondorf. Link's dignity as the Hero destined to save Hyrule no longer weighed on his shoulders. His eyes showed weakness and disappointment as small trails of salty tears stung his cuts and bruises. Zelda threw Hyrule Castle a glance, was she willing to give up her home so easily? And the destiny and life of the one she loved?

Ganondorf smiled, "Make your decision. This 'Hero'," he raised the weeping Link, "Is nothing more than the old idiotic childish farmhand he always was. He has never been significant, and he shall never be."  
Link did nothing. He hung in the evil victor's grasp for a moment longer, and then dropped onto the ground, painfully laying motionless, thoughts running through his sorrowed mind, body numb and still other than the slight breathing he even wished he wouldn't take. "Link -" she started, but was interrupted by Link glaring upwards at Zelda.

"I-I don't c-care. We all die in the end ANYWAYS!" he yelled, his voice wavering, "If Zant had just k-killed you, all our problems would have... ceased... already...you wench." Zelda gasped, did he really mean that? Ganondorf let the borders fall, where Zelda ran to the broken Hero doubled over sobbing into his gloved, calloused, bloody hands.

Zelda sat at Link's side, slowly taking Link's hand in hers. He didn't refuse it and gripped her hand tightly. His sobbing fits slowed, but his eyes were still wet.

Ganondorf stood over them, "I will give you a while to talk to the useless farmhand. But your time is limited." he laughed. Link whispered into Zelda's ear, something that she barely heard, but understood. "Right now?" she asked, he nodded. She looked down, and softly sang. She hummed a slow tune, a simple and quite beautiful lullaby she was serenaded to sleep by as a child. Her lullaby lulled the hero into a calm trance for mere moments.

The song seemed to calm Link to a silent whimper. She brushed his golden hair out of his face and kissed him quickly. Link could taste her sweet lips for those quick seconds they made contact, but he regretted it. Her eyes showed a delightful cerulean blue as a slight blush covered his face. Zelda went in to kiss him again, but he pushed her back, "Princess. Never do that again." he said, exhaling.

Zelda nodded, looking guilty, "Link. I just wanted you to know, I am doing this for your benefit. I can't let you fight for a lost cause any longer." she said.

Link knew exactly what she meant. His awe-struck face twisted into rage, "YOU COWARD!" He screamed, as Zelda was pulled up by Ganondorf. Ganondorf tied Link's hands behind his back, and held him steady, "I TRUSTED YOU! For those damn seconds I thought you'd fight... You are nothing but a wolf dressed in sheep's skin. a mere deception! I can never trust you again, and I won't let you deceive me..."

Zelda shed a single tear for her Hero. She kept deceiving him, using him, toying with him, leading him into a hatred she never knew would ever be able to surface. These thousands of years her spirit lived on and each she led an innocent man into saddness and the feeling of loss she never intended to.

Ganondorf glared at Link, and kicked him down, then putting Zelda on the midnight black horse he rode earlier. Link's feral ocean like eyes glared upon Zelda once more, and closed as he tried not to scream. "Zelda, you are quite cunning. A silly lullaby will calm him down? So pathetic." Ganondorf howled with laughter, kicking Link aside. Ganondorf boarded his own dark steed and rode off, kicking dust into Link's face face.

Link spat dust out of his mouth, and cursed. He looked up to the lightning creased sky, and screamed in frustration, until he felt his voice would break. The familiar presence of the Hero's Shade touched his shoulder. Link looked up into the Hero's eyes, ones that looked exactly like his. The hero's shade stood, light skin replaced his exposed bones and shade like body, and blonde hair hid his deep blue eyes. The hero's shade no longer wore armor, but was dressed in a tunic almost Identical to Link's own, and a dark, torn red cape was draped over his shoulders.

The Hero's Shade stared down at his kin, "You have failed me. I taught you to wield your blade with courage, but you merely shove your courage away and replace it with rage. You are not worthy of bearing the Sword of Evil's Bane, you never were." Link attempted to glare at his ancestor, who was practically a mirror image of him, but is deep blue eyes were strangely to frightening to even meet. "You are a fool to have not listened to me. I was never seen as a hero, just a silly boy who believed he was descended from the children of the forest. You will be seen as the fool who couldn't live up to his destiny."

Link cried out in frustration, his voice dry and barely audible, "What if this damned destiny wasn't mine to complete then!" He threw the sword at the Hero's Shade, "Why don't you finally be the fucking hero! You were just complaining about how you weren't seen as one!" Link's ancestor looked distastefully at the sword when he had caught it.

It tumbled out of his hands as he let it drop, rolling toward Link and surprisingly burning his fingers. "No one can play out your life for you. Thats a lesson every child knows." Pain shot throughout Links body as his bones creaked, adjusted, snapped, and groaned in protest, reshaping his body. "But a beast never does." the hero's shade finished,leaving the sacred beast to howl in pain and sorrow.

Days later

Zelda looked out her window, her proud castle now bore the blood of her innocent people as Ganondorf, the new King of Hyrule slaughtered anyone who defied him. The light spirits were slain, and the holy places that ran through the once peaceful country were toppled and cracked under blood and broken bodies. Zelda pulled off her black cloak, as it slid off to reveal her silken night gown. Her hair tumbled down into wavy locks past her shoulders as she gave one final look down at her kingdom. She remembered Link's friend, Ilia, stood proudly upon a stand, her hair matted and creamy skin bruised and cut, and being sold as a slave to Ganondorf's followers. The innocent girl yanking against her restraints, but failed, rubbing her weak wrists raw. She longed for Link to come and save them. Zelda knew he would. As if planned, she heard a soft howl.

Zelda ran through the winding halls of her castle to a large window where a lone wolf stood on a grassy hillside in the distant fields. He howled to the stars with a beautiful but frightening song. Zelda opened the window, calling out for the beast. She knew it was Link, she recognized him. Link's howl stopped, as he looked at Zelda from that field. A single tear fell from her face as she called out for him, and he just stared.

Zelda cried out desperately for him, stopping when he began to howl again. A beautiful song, sad and slow. Something rose from within his shadow while he howled, a figure she recognized as a mortally wounded imp, Midna. Midna hugged the beast's neck in a frail manner, blood gushing out of the wound across her stomach and dissipated back into her companions shadow. The beast turned, howling the sad song again, and ran through the grassy field. Zelda screamed over and over as the song echoed over the castle. Zelda made her decision, and thrust the blade she held into her chest as her lovers voice echoed Midna's Lament through the walls of the castle.

The once holy land of Hyrule was then thrown into chaos. Yet if you listened close enough as the sun set, you could sometimes hear the cursed hero's howls echoing across the land.

The Hero of Twilight failed.

And Hyrule drowned.

_The End_


End file.
